Bent Gas Door Hinge

I'm a guy that sometimes tries to fix things and might also possibly make them worse from time to time while trying. My gas door is one of those such instances. I may be the last one to know that you are required to lubricate the gas door hinge with your routine maintenance.

I'm sure this story has been told many times, but I have a couple specific questions I thought the experience on TW might be able to help me with.

Story:
Last summer, I opened the gas door to fill the tank up. It was a bit stiff, but I didn't really think anything about it, because it opened like usual. When I went to close it, the door didn't close right. I got it to close, but then door looked bent or shifted. So I spent some time trying to push it back into place thinking something dumb like the wind must have caught it on my last 10 hour drive and bent the damn thing. I gave up and said I'd look at it later.

Next time I filled up, I tried adjusting it even more. I got it to shut more evenly, but it wasn't right still. I finally got on Tacoma World to research it because it seemed like an odd issue. Glad I figured out that the hinge had seized up prior to completed breaking the door hinge.

I’ve got it heavily lubed up now with spray on lithium grease. In the pictures below that is what the white all over the hinge area is. I got a little aggressive on the lube because I was a bit angry at even thinking about this being regular maintenance. Don’t judge.

Current Situation:
It swings on the hing now like it is supposed to. Unfortunately, I think I bent the door hinge or the mounting bracket or something as the door is still not fitting right after my “adjustments.”

I don’t see any sign of cracking in the hinge areas, but I also don’t want to bend this thing all over trying to get it in place if there is an easier way.

The truck was in a freezing rain storm and salty roads. Sorry for the dirty truck pictures.

Image 1 is the current fit from the outside. You can see the entire door is somewhat shifted back and up.

Image 1


I’m getting some rubbing in a couple areas as well.
In Image 2: The top back when shutting it.

Image 2


In Image 3 the bottom front when opening it.

Image 3


Here are a couple more pictures for reference:

Image 4



Image 5




Image 6



Image 7


Questions and Thoughts:
1. Easy one to start - In Image 7, Am I supposed to have a second rubber bumper that matches the top circled one, in the bottom hole that is pictured.

2. In Image 6, the clasp seems to be lining up and grabbing alright. I do however remember "adjusting" this slightly as well. I think this can be bent some to accomodate for any changes I have to make elsewhere. It does not seem to be as fragile or interconnected as the other stuff is.

3.a. I think this would be much easier to straighten if it were off of the truck. As you can see in Image 4 clearly, this is rivetted on. I could drill those out and adjust it. Would I rivet it back on or would I nut and bolt it back on?

3.b. I'm sure it will be suggested that if I'm going that far, that I should just buy a new door and hinge and put it on. I DO NOT want to do this unless I have to. Those things are expensive!

4.a. Can anyone send me some similar pictures that I can compare mine to? Without seeing what it is supposed to look like, nothing looks wrong with the hinge till I go to close it.

4.b. I don't see any cracks in the metal from being bent back and forth a few times till I figured out it was siezed up. Although I have quick a bit of grease on there, is there any obvious peices broken that I am not seeing?

5. I have no idea if I can bend this back without breaking it or taking it off the truck. I would love to do this so I didn't have to figure out how to remount it or buying a new one. Has anyone successfully fixed this situation before?

6. What would you do? I could just leave this alone and be gentle for the remainder of the life of the truck, but I know I'll break something being distracted at some point. Because it is rubbing at both full open and close, it needs to be fixed in my opinion. I'm not sure if you can tell when it is closed or not, but every time I fill the tank I am irritated by it not fitting in the center.


I really appreciate any help that could be provided. It's a small issue, but every time I fill up in the freezing I think about it.

 

I have a 2016. About a year ago, noticed it was not aligned as it was originally and did not seem to close properly. So I lubed it and played with it. Finally got it back acceptable, but it’s not like it was before. A Tacoma weak point. I took it to the dealer to complain last year and they blamed it on automatic car washes. That’s a bunch of bullshit. I always look at Tacomas in parking lots and I’ve seen other fuel doors out of alignment. I think it’s a manufacturing defect.

 

Mine was bent like that and ended up getting a new gas door and having the dealer fix it. Pretty sure 1 of my hinges was messed up because it took about 1.5 hours just to fix the issue.

 

My gas door was doing something similar for a long time. I basically would just jam it shut and forgot about it between fueling. Last week when I was looking at it, I swung the door open and shut a few times and the bottom hinge completely severed. She’s hangin on by a thread at this point. Has anyone here done a tank door replacement? Seems like I hear about this being a somewhat common issue in the Tacoma universe

 

The door is held on with two rivets. They are easy to remove. Drill carefully, don’t distort the holes in the bedside.

Worst part is the door will come in primer sealer black, needs painted.

A small spray with silicone lube will ensure there are no issues with the hinge. I’ve always given them a small shot at every oil change. Started doing this when my 02 was new.

 

You need to lube the hinge every so often, easy enough to remember to do so when you change your oil. Mine was all bent out if shape as you describe from normal use and I tried to bent it back and get it aligned but it was never right and bugged me.

I eventually got it replaced and it was quite simple. It was pre covid and cost me about $200, I bet its a bit more now. I had the shop prep the new cover before I dropped the truck off so they didn't need to hold it for a week while they painted it. Took about 3 hours when they called and said they were ready to make the swap. It looked like it did when the truck was new, now I just keep it greasy.

 

Late 1970's working my first (off the farm) job in a body shop I watched them use a thick soft bound book to adjust door/trunk hinges. After lubing the hinge, I bet if one put a fairly thin magazine near the hinge point and pushed gently on the far end of cover with the back hand you should be able to reverse the effect of binding the hinge. Patience and stopping to check fitment is in order.